Connor Hellebuyck is still a member of the Winnipeg Jets with the season approaching, and much of the conversation around him has centered on how few places he’s actually willing to go. According to Elliotte Friedman, that read is wrong – his list is broader than most of the players who have asked out in recent years.
Hellebuyck went public with his trade request in August after months of private conversations, and TSN’s Darren Dreger reported this week that the offers Winnipeg has fielded since then have been “terrible.” Friedman addressed the other side of that equation on the 32 Thoughts podcast, arguing that the bottleneck isn’t the goaltender’s willingness to move.
“Hellebuyck is a little different in the sense that he’s given more teams, like some of the other situations like Brady Tkachuk. He’s given more teams,” Friedman said. “Like I heard Hellebuyck basically will go anywhere he thinks he can win.”
Friedman on Connor Hellebuyck
Friedman then pointed to the deal that came closest to actually getting done as proof of that, and it wasn’t a destination anyone would have guessed.
“The deal that was the closest one to happening was the Buffalo one, and I think that gives you an example of what he’s willing to do, because there’s not a lot of other players who would have been saying, ‘Okay, yes, Buffalo’s on the top of my list,'” Friedman said. “No offense to the Sabres, and they’re great fans. But after last year, in the way he saw them play, he’s like, ‘I think I can win there. I’ll go there.’ So I think his list is a little bit wider.”
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Friedman has previously said the motivation isn’t about weather or taxes, the way it often is with trade requests, but purely about where Hellebuyck believes he can win. He’s also been clear that he doesn’t expect the three-time Vezina Trophy winner to accept a move to a Canadian team.
What’s complicated matters is how much the market has shifted since June. The Buffalo Sabres no longer hold the No. 4 overall pick Winnipeg had targeted, having used it on defenseman Daxon Rudolph, and new no-trade protections kicked in on July 1 for goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and center Josh Norris, both of whom had been floated as pieces.
Four teams mentioned
The Florida Panthers made an offer at one point, but much of it has since been spent elsewhere, with draft capital going to Ottawa in the Tkachuk trade and Evan Rodrigues heading to New Jersey. Florida then traded for Jacob Markstrom instead.
Friedman named Buffalo, the Utah Mammoth and the Carolina Hurricanes as the teams still circling, with “very mixed messaging” on the New Jersey Devils. He added that the Jets want NHL-ready players in return rather than futures, since they intend to stay competitive.
Hellebuyck, 33, has played 625 games across 11 seasons in Winnipeg. He won the Hart Trophy in 2025 and has five years left on his contract.
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